Can the arts be an effective tool to combat psychosis stigma?

Can the arts be an effective tool to combat psychosis stigma? There has been a rise in stigma for mental illnesses over the past few decades, particularly for psychotic symptoms. However, artistic representation may be the key to eliminating psychosis stigma. Stigma was originally described by the Canadian sociologist Erving Goffman in 1963 as the ‘situation of the individual who is disqualified from full social acceptance.’(1) The Oxford English Dictionary describes stigma as: “Negative feelings that people have about particular circumstances or characteristics that somebody may have.” Psychotic symptoms, such as hearing voices, being afraid of threats that others do not perceive, or believing in implausible ideas, remain stubbornly stigmatic which can lead to social alienation, impact self-worth, and impede recovery. The arts, such as painting, poetry, and visual arts are receiving increasing attention as potentially powerful interventions at a societal level to facilitate deeper understanding of psychotic symptoms and communicate the experience on a personal level to the public.